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king's heart was sorrowful as he read, for he was grateful to the lad

for what he had done to help him; but the boy only laughed, and bade the

king fear nothing, but to search the town instantly for two youths just

like each other, and he would paint himself a mask that was just like

them. And the sword at his side clanked loudly.

After a long search twin brothers were found, so exactly resembling

each other that even their own mother could not tell the difference. The

youth painted a mask that was the precise copy of them, and when he had

put it on, no one would have known one boy from the other. They set out

at once for the Sultan's palace, and when they reached it, they were

taken straight into his presence. He made a sign for them to come near;

they all bowed low in greeting. He asked them about their journey; they

answered his questions all together, and in the same words. If one sat

down to supper, the others sat down at the same instant. When one got

up, the others got up too, as if there had been only one body between

them. The Sultan could not detect any difference between them, and he

told his aunt that he would not be so cruel as to kill all three.

'Well, you will see a difference to-morrow,' replied the witch, 'for one

will have a cut on his sleeve. That is the youth you must kill.' And one

hour before midnight, when witches are invisible, she glided into the

room where all three lads were sleeping in the same bed. She took out

a pair of scissors and cut a small piece out of the boy's coat-sleeve

which was hanging on the wall, and then crept silently from the room.

But in the morning the youth saw the slit, and he marked the sleeves of

his two companions in the same way, and all three went down to breakfast

with the Sultan. The old witch was standing in the window and pretended

not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads,

and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they

were all as alike as before. After breakfast, the Sultan, who was

getting tired of the whole affair and wanted to be alone to invent some

other plan, told them they might return home. So, bowing low with one

accord, they went.

The princess welcomed the boy back joyfully, but the poor youth was not

allowed to rest long in peace, for one day a fresh letter arrived from

the Sultan, saying that he had discovered that the young man was a very

dangerous person, and that he must be sent to Turkey at once, and alone.

The girl burst into tears when the boy told her what was in the letter

which her father had bade her to carry to him. 'Do not weep, love of

my heart,' said the boy, 'all will be well. I will start at sunrise

to-morrow.'

So next morning at sunrise the youth set forth, and in a few days he

reached the Sultan's palace. The old witch was waiting for him at the

gate, and whispered as he passed: 'This is the last time you will ever

enter it.' But the sword clanked, and the lad did not even look at her.

As he crossed the threshold fifteen armed Turks barred his way, with the

Sultan at their head. Instantly the sword darted forth and cut off the

heads of everyone but the Sultan, and then went quietly back to its

scabbard. The witch, who was looking on, saw that as long as the youth

had possession of the sword, all her schemes would be in vain, and tried

to steal the sword in the night, but it only jumped out of its scabbard

and sliced off her nose, which was of iron. And in the morning, when the

Sultan brought a great army to capture the lad and deprive him of his

sword, they were all cut to pieces, while he remained without a scratch.

Meanwhile the princess was in despair because the days slipped by, and

the young man did not return, and she never rested until her father let

her lead some troops against the Sultan. She rode proudly before them,

dressed in uniform; but they had not left the town more than a mile

behind them, when they met the lad and his little sword. When he told

them what he had done they shouted for joy, and carried him back in

triumph to the palace; and the king declared that as the youth had shown

himself worthy to become his son-in-law, he should marry the princess

and succeed to the throne at once, as he himself was getting old, and

the cares of government were too much for him. But the young man said he

must first go and see his mother, and the king sent him in state, with a

troop of soldiers as his bodyguard.

The old woman was quite frightened at seeing such an array draw up

before her little house, and still more surprised when a handsome young

man, whom she did not know, dismounted and kissed her hand, saying:

'Now, dear mother, you shall hear my secret at last! I dreamed that I

should become King of Hungary, and my dream has come true. When I was

a child, and you begged me to tell you, I had to keep silence, or the

Magyar king would have killed me. And if you had not beaten me nothing

would have happened that has happened, and I should not now be King of

Hungary.'

The Prince And The Dragon

Once upon a time there lived an emperor who had three sons. They were

all fine young men, and fond of hunting, and scarcely a day passed

without one or other of them going out to look for game.

One morning the eldest of the three princes mounted his horse and set

out for a neighbouring forest, where wild animals of all sorts were to

be found. He had not long left the castle, when a hare sprang out of a

thicket and dashed across the road in front. The young man gave chase

at once, and pursued it over hill and dale, till at last the hare took

refuge in a mill which was standing by the side of a river. The prince

followed and entered the mill, but stopped in terror by the door, for,

instead of a hare, before him stood a dragon, breathing fire and flame.